U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan: anti-Russia sanctions overdue

U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan said Thursday that sanctions against Russia unveiled earlier in the day were overdue.

"While today's action by the administration is overdue, it is an appropriate way to end eight years of failed policy with Russia. And it serves as a prime example of this administrations's ineffective foreign policy that has left America weaker in the eyes of the world," the senior Republican said.

"Russia does not share America's interests. In fact, it has consistently sought to undermine them, sowing dangerous instability around the world," he said.

The remarks came after U.S. President Barack Obama unveiled a sanction that targeted nine Russian entities and individuals, including two Russian intelligence services, and the State Department expelled 35 Russian diplomats in the United States earlier Thursday.

The Department of Homeland Security and Federal Bureau of Investigation also on Thursday released a joint report specifying Russia as behind the cyber attacks and leaks against the Democratic Party and its presidential candidate Hillary Clinton during the election cycle.

Lindsey Graham, another senior Republican lawmaker, said Wednesday that "bi-partisan sanctions...will hit Russia hard, particularly Putin as an individual."

The anti-Russia rhetoric among the Republican leadership is a major obstacle for U.S President-elect Donald Trump to reverse U.S. foreign policy on Moscow, as he has suggested with tweets defending Russia. Enditem